Advanced Course "Global Change Ecology and Plants"

Coordinator:    Prof. Dr. Mark van Kleunen

1. Introduction

We are living in the Anthropocene, a period of unprecedented rapid environmental change. Human actions result in climate change, habitat destruction and fragmentation, pollution, eutrophication and biological invasions. These changes impose a challenge to many organisms, and opportunities to others. However, the exact ecological and evolutionary consequences of global change, and the impacts on ecosystem functions and services (e.g. supply of food and clean water) are still poorly understood.


A few impressions of our research: (a) our global-warming simulation facility, (b) a typical greenhouse experiment, (c) experimental manipulation of nutrient availability.


We are interested in the basic questions of how phenotypic variation in functional traits is shaped by environmental and genetic variation, and how these traits interact with extrinsic factors to determine the success of organisms - plants in particular. As ecology and evolution are intrinsically related, we also address evolutionary questions. The approaches that we use include experiments in greenhouse and garden as well as field studies, but we also perform global syntheses of available knowledge through database studies and meta-analyses of published research.

2. Objectives

You will learn the “what” and “how” of Global Change Biology and Plant Ecology:

  • What are the major…
    • drivers and impacts of global environmental change.
    • questions in global-change and plant ecology.
    • methods and approaches in plant (evolutionary) ecology.
  • How to:
    • test hypotheses in ecology.
    • design, set-up, and run experiments.
    • analyse the data that you collect.
    • present your results (poster presentation, oral presentation, paper).

3. Contents of the course

The course consists of a combination of lectures, workshops, seminars, excursions and doing experiments. In the lectures, you will learn the major theories in global-change and plant ecology. In the workshops, you will learn important skills, such as experimental design, statistical analysis, scientific writing and how to make a poster. In the seminars, you will present and discuss recent publications. During a one-day excursion to the mountains, you will learn about alpine ecology and take inspiration for a research proposal, and during another excursion you will gain insights in managing a nature reserve. In a small group, you will design and run your own research project, during which the acquired methods, skills and knowledge will be put into practice. Overall, you will obtain experience in all aspects of scientific research – from observing the natural world to presenting your completed research.

4. Requirements and passing the course

Requirements are basic knowledge of and a keen interest in ecology and evolution. To pass the course, you have to actively participate, present and discuss papers and your project results, and write a paper on your research project.

For more information on our group, visit our webpage (https://www.biologie.uni-konstanz.de/kleunen/) or contact mark.vankleunen@uni-konstanz.de.